Taking away one's
freedom to exercise is one of the subtlest and most debilitating
tortures that can be inflicted on a human being. Yet that is how the
Pentagon's Robert Gates, with the backing of President Obama, is
punishing PFC Bradley Manning. The Army intelligence specialist's
alleged offense is to have turned over confidential files to
WikiLeaks in part to expose the arbitrary killing of Iraqi civilians
and Reuters journalists in Baghdad on July 12,
2007. They were mowed down from an Army Apache helicopter gunship.
Rather than welcoming the infamous "Collateral Damage" video
proof Manning furnished of this massacre and punishing the actors,
Gates, a former CIA director with apparently no scruples, is
punishing Manning.

President
Obama has said he has been assured by the Pentagon that Manning is
being treated "appropriately" in a way that is "meeting our
basic standards."

But
David House, an MIT researcher and friend, says Manning told him on a
visit last December 18th
that "he does not receive any substantive exercise and cannot
perform even basic exercises in his cell. When told of the Pentagon's
statement that he did indeed receive exercise, Manning's reply was
that he is able to exercise insofar as walking in chains is a form of
exercise." ("Chains
you can believe in?")

In a nation that
worships sports and where tens of millions fill gyms and jog along
the roadsides, it is ironic that this 23-year-old Crescent, Okla.,
native is denied by Gates the right even to do a push-up or a sit-up
in his cell and is required to drag chains in the one hour per day he
is allowed to walk at the Marine Corp brig in Quantico, Va. And
should Manning pause for any reason during that hour to rest, he is
returned to his cell. Of course, the Army calls this sham "exercise"
but who has ever heard of any American military unit required to
"exercise" in this manner?

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The object of denying
Bradley exercise is to weaken both his body and his mind so that if
the Army ever decides to bring his case to trial, it will be trying a
human vegetable, perhaps a distraught man even incapable of
understanding the charges against him, incapable of assisting his
lawyers in his defense. Meanwhile, the Pentagon is torturing this
innocent man by constant (every five minutes') interrogation, sleep
deprivation, and humiliation---this last by forcing him to stand at
roll call stark naked.

Exercise denial might
well be classified among the "clean tortures" that leave no marks
and that have been devised in recent years by the western
democracies, notably the U.S., Britain, and France, where official
conduct is subject to media surveillance. "Torturers, on their own
or at the direction of others and for whatever reason, seem to have
turned more and more toward techniques that leave few marks,"
writes Darius Rejali in his definitive "Torture and
Democracy"( Princeton
University Press).

Regular, healthful
exercise strengthens the mind---and the Pentagon is not going to
allow that. The prescient Mahatma Gandhi knew this years ago and
preached exercise to strengthen practitioners of non-violent
resistance, or satyagraha. He
wrote in his book, "Non-Violent Resistance"(Dover
Publications), "The object of the various exercises was to
strengthen and purify the body in order to secure control of the
mind." Gandhi added, "If the Satyagrahi is not healthy in mind
and body, he may perhaps fail in mustering complete fearlessness."

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Since
Gandhi's day there have been a ton of studies linking exercise to
mental well-being. "Exercise has been shown to have tremendous
benefits for mental health," Science Daily quotes
Jasper Smits as saying. Smits is director of the Anxiety Research and
Treatment Program at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. After
reviewing "dozens" of population-based and clinical studies he
found, "Individuals who exercise report fewer symptoms of anxiety
and depression, and lower levels of stress and anger." Smits calls
for 150 minutes a week of moderate-intensity activity or 75 minutes a
week of vigorous-intensity activity, according to Science
Daily.

Leonard
Holmes, a clinical psychologist who has worked at the VA Medical
Center in Hampton, Va., and taught health psychology at the College
of William and Mary, wrote on About.com
"We know that exercise has positive effects on the brain.
Researchers at Duke University demonstrated several years ago that
exercise has antidepressant properties.... The bottom line is that
most of us feel good after exercise." An individual is said by
experts to need exercise that will improve cardiovascular health,
build strength, and and enhance flexibility. This might include
cycling or running three days a week and weight-lifting three days a
week.

Denying
Manning exercise contributes to making it tough for him to sleep. As
Judith Easton, personal training director at Galter Life Center,
Chicago, told Home Fit Pro, "Exercise
leads to an increase of energy and better sleeping patterns, which
may also explain why it is so helpful to people with depression. Low
energy and poor sleep are common symptoms of depression."

While
Manning shuffles about in chains for attempting to stop the killing
in Iraq, the Imperial President Obama---who has just plunged the U.S.
into war in Libya without bothering to obtain the consent of
Congress---apparently isn't scrimping on his
workouts. Obama once told Men's Health magazine,
"Usually I get in about 45 minutes, six days a week. I'll lift one
day, do cardio the next." And his passion for basketball is well
known. As for wife Michelle, the First Lady reportedly is a fan of
cross-training, mixing exercises that include weight-lifting, the
treadmill, stair-stepper and spin bike. AP says
Obama and his wife "have exercise routines that would put most
people to shame."

May
the president and First Lady exercise well and sleep well. Bradley
Manning, whose treatment violates the anti-torture statutes, isn't.
So much for "doing unto others" and the Golden Rule. And as for
shame...

#

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(Sherwood
Ross is a Miami-based public relations consultant who also writes on
political topics. Reach him at Email address removed)

Sherwood Ross worked as a reporter for the Chicago Daily News and contributed a regular "Workplace" column for Reuters. He has contributed to national magazines and hosted a talk show on WOL, Washington, D.C. In the Sixties he was active as public (more...)